I'm not sure what this thing is actually called. For instance, when I open word and click "Open" and it brings up the dialog box that asks me what file I want to open. It's got Some shortcuts on the left side like desktop, my documents, my computer, etc. It always opens to an inconvenient place and I was wondering if there was a system-wide way to change the default directory it automatically goes to, and also to set up custom shortcuts?

Since I don't actually know what this thing is called, its hard to google for an answer.

Thanks.


(Maybe its name has something to do with "Look in" ?)

It's called the Places bar. You can use Tweak UI to edit it.

Thanks for your wisdom, as always!